


wrapped in red and green

by earlymorningechoes



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Presents, Disabled Character, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, and a mild moment of angst, when Rory Shepard realizes they get to have Christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2021-01-22 18:17:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21306449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlymorningechoes/pseuds/earlymorningechoes
Summary: Rory and Ashley's first Christmas together, after everything. It's Rory's favorite holiday, and even if things are hard, it's going to be special.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Ashley Williams
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	wrapped in red and green

Rory wakes up slow, letting her body relish the lack of an alarm telling her _ go go go_, as she does most mornings now. The prefab house is quiet, set a bit away from the rest of the houses in the area, and the only sound breaking the morning stillness is Ashley’s slow and steady breathing. It’s such a strange contrast to most of her life, spent on ships amidst whooshing air filters and clicking mechanics and an ever-humming engine, that some days she still can’t sleep for the quiet. But this morning, as silent snow falls past the uncurtained window, it’s more comforting than anxiety-inducing.

Rolling over gently, careful not to jostle any of her still-tender scars or new cybernetic left leg, Rory nuzzles into Ashley’s shoulder. “Good morning,” she murmurs, “and merry Christmas.”

Ashley’s eyes open with a snap, keyed into Rory’s voice. “Are you okay?” she asks automatically, before registering what the words were. “Oh. Good morning. And merry Christmas.”

Laughing, Rory presses her forehead against Ashley’s shoulder again. “Sorry to scare you. I thought that would be much more gentle than it turned out to be.”

The answering shrug and the smile that crosses Ashley’s face send a wave a profound gratitude through Rory, that she’s here and safe and they’re both going to be okay. That the galaxy is going to be okay. 

She gets trapped in that thought for a moment, _ okay okay okay_, before she realizes she’s missed something. “Sorry? I didn’t mean to get distracted.”

Shaking her head, Ashley pulls away to sit up. “Don’t worry. I was just saying I wasn’t scared, just a habit.” She stands. “Anyways. Did you want to get up?”

Rory knows the grin on her face would look more appropriate on a ten-year-old. “Of course I do, it’s Christmas!” 

Ashley, already pushing Rory’s wheelchair into an easier spot for transferring, can’t help but laugh. “I don’t know why I even asked.”

Climbing slowly into the wheelchair, Rory turns that megawatt grin back towards Ashley, trying not to bounce too much and anger any of her many weak and tender body parts. “Let’s go!”

They make their way towards the prefab’s small living room, still teasing and laughing, trying to fill up their little house with the sounds of various other people who’ve been around for what feels like as long as they can remember. It’s clunky, and things don’t always fit right, but it’s okay. _ Okay okay okay. _

Ashley flips a light switch on their way into the main room, and the lights on the small Christmas tree turn on, a rainbow of colors against the falling snow in the window. Rory’s face lights up even brighter, eyes roaming over the far from modest pile of presents lying on the floor underneath the tree.

“There are way more presents here than there were last night,” she accuses, eyes dancing.

“Your love of Christmas is well-known, Ror.” Ashley drops cross-legged to the floor, grabbing a gift and handing it up to Rory. “Kasumi came by and dropped a bunch of things off after you were asleep. She’ll be back again later today, she just wanted to make sure you could see them first thing in the morning.”

Nodding, Rory stares down at the present in her lap but doesn’t move to open it. She runs her hands across the snowman-printed paper and the label, _ To Rory From Kasumi_, gentle and almost reverent. Ashley doesn’t move, holding another present in the same paper, waiting for whatever Rory needs from her.

“We get another Christmas,” she says, finally, and something shifts. A wave of tears falls down her cheeks. She hands the gift back to Ashley, to avoid ruining the paper, and swipes at her eyes.

“Hey now.” Ashley scoots across the floor to rest her head on Rory’s right knee. “We do. That’s a good thing. But we can take it at whatever pace you need.”

Rory gives her a watery, small smile. “Yeah.” She tries to slow her breathing down, the way her therapist has been teaching her, out longer than in. It’s not fast, but eventually she looks back up and her eyes are dry.

“Now where were we?” she asks, and Ashley hands the gift back to her. She tears at the paper, almost wiggling in her chair. The gift emerges - a linear algebra textbook, it looks like - and Ashley bursts out laughing again.

“Only you would get that as a Christmas gift and be happy about it,” she jokes. Rory nods, quick and bouncing and excited.

“I love Christmas,” she says, and Ashley’s laughter redoubles.

“And I love you.”


End file.
